Detrital or placer mining of minerals, particularly for gold and other precious gems and minerals, is historically well known. The activity has been pursued by artisans, hobbyists and professional prospectors and explorers. Such prospecting activity for gold and other minerals requires various pieces of specialized equipment, such as scoops, screens, “gold” pans, etc. There are a number of scoops, concentrating pans and meshes, sieves or screens available on the market. The prospecting and classifying apparatus of the present invention is built and designed for convenience for ground tests and for new prospecting or exploring.
In general, the prospecting operation provides classifying screens that allow classification or separation of higher density metal values such as particles of gold from a mixture of gold particles and earthen or other mineral material through the use of screen meshes of varying fineness. A load of mineral material, including dirt and other mineral material may be loaded into a bucket so that particulates small enough to fall though the holes or mesh in the classifying or separator assembly of one or more screens may fall through, leaving coarser material behind.
There has been a recognized need for assembling and using prospecting tools in a manner to make prospecting easier and more convenient, similar to the convenience of a compact tool. There is no known technology being used to solve the problem of assembling and transporting the prospecting tools in an assembled, convenient and compact manner as with the present invention, keeping the component tools readily available and together for use in prospecting.
As well, there has been no device to solve the problem of the prospector or explorer, particularly when traveling on foot, of having a lot of different pieces of prospecting and classifying equipment to carry at one time. Finally, there is a need to be able to keep all of the mineral residual together during storage and transportation and minimizing the amount of equipment needed to accomplish this task.
The prospecting and classifying devices described in the related art do not disclose features of the present invention and would not be as suitable for the required purpose of the present invention hereinafter described. Prospecting and classifying devices are well known in the related art, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 9,132,452 to Trivette et al (“Trivette”); U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,430, to Zaffiro et al. (“Zaffiro”); U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,419 to Bergman (“Bergman”); and U.S. Pat. No. 8,113,355 to Peterson (“Peterson”). Bergman discloses a separator kit, a stand alone kit so that conventional classifying tools can be carried in a single unit. Zaffiro discloses a ‘rocker” gold recovery kit with a bucket and stacking screens, and shows that it is known to provide a bucket with several nestable classifying screens and a separator mechanism interior of the bucket with handles. Trivette discloses a classifier assembly with the assembly designed to fit inside a bucket, and shows nestable classifier screen and mesh trays. Peterson discloses a classifying kit comprised of bucket, sieves and bowl, among other elements and provides a nestable classifier screen and mesh trays, adapted for both wet and dry classifying. However, none of the known devices disclose or suggest all the features of the present invention in the same arrangement.
The mechanism and elements of the present invention (the supports, bucket notches, etc., set forth herein) for nesting the screen and mesh components are not found in the related art. Zaffiro and Trivette provide specific approaches to adapt various classifier components for readily nesting the screens with a bucket, teaching away from the elements and mechanism of the present invention.
None of the references contain every feature of the present invention, and none of these references in combination disclose, suggest or teach every feature of the present invention.
The foregoing and other objectives, advantages, aspects, and features of the present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon consideration of the detailed description of a preferred embodiment, presented below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.